1. Field
The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly to an air conditioner, which has a temperature sensor rotated in an indoor space to sense the temperature of the indoor space, and which checks for the existence of a human body using the temperature sensor to control the air-conditioning of the indoor space.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, air conditioners are apparatuses that cool or heat the environment using an endothermic reaction and an exothermic reaction achieved by evaporating or liquefying a refrigerant circulated in a refrigerating cycle forming a closed circuit by connecting a compressor, a 4-way valve, an outdoor heat exchanger, an outdoor expansion device, an indoor heat exchanger, and an indoor expansion device with refrigerant pipes.
These air conditioners are divided into a ceiling type air conditioner, a wall-mounted type air conditioner, and a stand type air conditioner according to installation methods.
Generally, an air conditioner includes a temperature sensor, which is referred to as a thermopile, rotated by a motor. The air conditioner checks for the existence of a human body by sensing temperatures of respective rotating sections with the temperature sensor rotated by the motor, and controls the direction and amount of air according to results obtained by the check, thus cooling and heating an indoor space in a user's desired optimum state.
A single channel heat sensor having one temperature sensing element or a multi-channel heat sensor having multiple temperature sensing elements disposed in different directions is used as the temperature sensor. In the case that the single channel heat sensor is installed in the air conditioner, when the motor is rotated at a regular speed and thus the sensor is rotated at the regular speed, a microcomputer periodically reads temperature distributions of the respective rotating sections of the indoor space through the temperature sensing element, stores the read temperature distributions in a memory, and checks for the existence of a human body in the corresponding rotating sections based on the stored data. Further, in the case that the multi-channel heat sensor is installed in the air conditioner, when the motor is rotated at a regular speed and thus the sensor is rotated at the regular speed, the microcomputer periodically reads temperature distributions of the respective rotating sections of the indoor space through the temperature sensing elements of the respective channels, stores the read temperature distributions in the memory, and checks for the existence of a human body in the corresponding rotating sections based on the stored data.
In order to enhance the sensing performance of the temperature sensor according to the installation method of the air conditioner, a rotating speed of the temperature sensor or a temperature sensing cycle in the rotating sections of the temperature sensor needs to be changed. That is, the rotating speed of the temperature sensor is increased or the temperature sensing cycle is elongated in a section without a target object, such as a human body or a heat source, in order to increase the temperature sensing speed of the temperature sensor, and the rotating speed of the temperature sensor is decreased or the temperature sensing cycle is shortened in a section with a target object in order to precisely sense the temperature of the indoor space in the section.
However, in the conventional air conditioner, the rotating speed of the temperature sensor and the temperature sensing cycle of the microcomputer are fixed, and thus the temperature sensing intervals of the respective rotating sections are uniform. Therefore, the rotating speed is slow or the temperature sensing cycle is short in a section without a target object and thus the temperature sensing speed may be slow, and the rotating speed of the temperature sensor is fast or the temperature sensing cycle is long in a section with a target object. Thus the sensing of the temperature may not be precisely performed.
Further, in the conventional air conditioner, the rotating speed of the temperature sensor and the temperature sensing cycle of the microcomputer are fixed regardless of the short or long distance of a target object from the air conditioner, and thus the temperature sensing intervals in the respective rotating sections are uniform. Therefore, when the target object is located at a position close to the air conditioner, the rotating speed is slow or the temperature sensing cycle is short, and much data are redundantly sensed at a high speed. Thus the storing and calculating capacity of the microcomputer processing the temperature data may be insufficient. When the target object is located at a position distant from the air conditioner, the rotating speed is fast or the temperature sensing cycle is long, and the collection of data is insufficient. Thus the temperature sensing may not be performed precisely. Particularly, in the case that the multi-channel heat sensor collecting data through respective channels is employed, the above problem may be more severe.